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The
Glenview Watch May 27, 2001 |
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For weeks now, the Plan Commission has been telling Concord Homes that taxes from its development at 701 Milwaukee Avenue (between Central and Countryside) would not fully cover the costs of educating their kids.
Specifically, experts estimate residents of the 22 homes would pay $86,000 to District 34, but the cost to educate 17 students expected to attend elementary and middle schools from the new subdivision would be $139,400.
The developer has argued that residential properties never cover the cost of schooling kids unless the houses sell for more than a million bucks. That, they say, is why the community encourages retail and industrial development properties that pay school taxes but send no kids, helping to balance the books.
This week, the developer pointed out that Concord would also pay one-time impact fees of nearly $200,000 to District 34 and more than $86,000 to the high school district. That money, they said, could be used to plug the gap between costs and revenues for education.
Not so, said Chairman Howard Silver. Local ordinance specifies that impact fees be used for buildings and facilities only not to pay teachers. True, said the developer, but in the annexation agreement which must be executed with the village, that money could be assigned to operating costs.
The news sparked an idea for Chairman Silver and Commissioner Joseph DiMattina. Why not say, in the annexation agreement, that the developer must pay a supplemental impact fee to prevent the projected deficit for Glenview's public schools?
The attorney speaking for Concord Homes didn't like the idea, but he asked the commission to recommend approval of the project with the suggestion of extra impact fee and let the developer take it up with the Village Board. The Plan Commission agreed.
COMMISSIONER RAISES EYEBROWS OVER ETHICS
A local man hoping to tear down a small house in Glen Oak Acres and build one twice as big was sent away this week by the Plan Commission told to figure out, first, how to prevent neighbors of the property at 1150 Wildwood Lane from being flooded every time it rains.
Commissioner Joseph DiMattina, who lived in the area for 18 years, said it was often wet, and he feared the new construction would make matters worse. Commissioner Linda Witt said she lives behind the Wildwood lot and predicted more standing water in a wooded area between them.
No one questioned whether it was appropriate for Witt to regulate her neighbor in light of her personal interest in the matter, perhaps because only four commissioners showed up for Tuesday's meeting. Had Witt recused herself, the commission would not have had sufficient votes to make a decision. In the end, they told the petitioner to work with staff on ways to channel storm water and come back at the next Plan Commission meeting on June 12.
MORE HEAT FOR MADAME WITT
Linda Witt has a long-standing tradition on the Plan Commission. She seldom stays past 9:30 p.m., and Tuesday was no exception. The problem was that about 40 residents had waited to testify about matters that could not be heard with only three commissioners in attendance. Folks from the Princeton Club Town Villas who oppose creation of an expanded Shell service station on nearby Willow Road and neighbors of a teardown site on Prairie Street were clearly disappointed.
"Please don't turn into a mob and don't key my car or anything" said Commissioner Silver. "We're going to have to continue at our June 12 meeting. Residents shouted their objections, saying public officials like Witt should be available to take care of business, but Silver wouldn't listen. "There are personal reasons she has that we don't have to go into publicly," he said.
SILVER BIDS FAREWELL TO A FAN
Just before adjournment, Silver startled some observers by announcing, "I did meet a citizen from Indian Ridge last week at an affair, and she indicated she's a big fan of the Plan Commission, and she watches us and goes to sleep with us particularly with Mr. DiMattina and myself, so to Dale McBride of Indian Ridge, thank you and good night."
The mysterious Mrs. McBride roared when the Watch played her a recording of Silver's remark. She had turned off her set early Tuesday and "missed the big moment. I would have died!" she says. McBride says DiMattina is an old family friend, and she feels like she knows Silver after seeing him so often on cable.
GLENVIEW'S CABLE STAR RETURNS
Wednesday night, Silver was back on the tube, presiding over a meeting of The Glen Redevelopment Commission's hearing about the mixed use retail center or MURC at The Glen. Silver called it "one of the most important issues coming before the village," and predicted the shopping mall "will probably change Glenview's nature forever."
The program began with an overview from California developer Paul Buss. His firm plans 450,000 square feet of retail space, 154 townhomes, 182 apartments to be located over shops and 30,000 square feet for the Hangar One "museum."
Buss described a "romantic" shopping mall with brick buildings, sloping roofs and eaves designed to look like Main Street in small American towns. A parking garage with more than 700 spaces would be tucked behind the hangar, while the Von Maur department store would be housed within the hangar. A 10-screen cinema would be built alongside it with one screen reserved for art films and the rest for Hollywood fare.
Buss said he was open to a discussion of changes to preliminary plans but would not bend on matters that could impact sales. When Chairman Silver complained, for example, that movie goers could not easily enter the theater from the side or behind the building, Buss replied, "We want to force people to walk on Main Street. . .so they have to walk by these storefronts. We don't want people to be able to short circuit."
"You're from San Diego," said Silver. "If it's raining or windy or doing other things than what San Diego has, it's a long way to walk."
Buss said he was originally from the Midwest and knew about our weather, but he noted that Chicagoland's top retail locations Michigan Avenue, Oak Brook Court and Old Orchard are outdoor shopping areas. "You people adapt here," he said.
Silver pressed for more discussion, and the developer said awnings would be installed to provide some protection.
A LIMITED PUBLIC HEARING
In opening the floor for questions from residents, Silver warned, "We're not at the point of There shouldn't be theaters,' or anything like that. That part of it's been gone through already. There are certain contract things that have to stay."
Nevertheless, the first speaker asked about theaters questioning the wisdom of 10 screens. The developer said that size was necessary to give film distributors flexibility. For hugely popular movies, they can take up more screening spaces. As those films fall off in popularity, they can be shown on fewer screens. What's more, he argued a 2150-seat cinema is "a fairly intimate theater by today's standards."
Another resident expressed doubts about the financing of this project, noting that millions of public dollars will be invested to make the MURC happen. Dismissing village staff and consultants, he proposed that an outsider perhaps from the business school at Northwestern or the University of Chicago be hired to provide an independent analysis of the financing.
Chairman Silver said the next in a series of public hearings on The MURC would be devoted to the dollars. That hearing will take place May 30 at 7 p.m. in Village Hall and should be shown on cable channel 17.
KEMPER OUTRAGED BY MURC PLANS
Kemper Sports Management, the firm behind a fancy 18-hole golf course, sent its lawyer to protest the MURC plans. Kelly Bufton said he was "sorry to rain on the parade," but his client had been wronged.
In Glenview's original plan, Bufton said, Kemper's clubhouse was an important part of the mixed use development a grand building overlooking Main Street and the homes which would be built around the course. Those plans have changed, and the MURC has inexplicably turned away from the golfers showing its ugly backside to patrons of the swank club.
"In the master plan, all of the parking garages were screened from the golf course area by residential. It makes a lot of sense to put residential on a golf course. It's very valuable land, but what do we get? We get parking decks," said the lawyer.
"This plan cuts us off from the MURC entirely. It reduces the value of our property considerably. It completely reverses course on what we were sold when we built this club house. We're now bordered by the back of a strip mall."
Glen Redevelopment Commissioner Mary Novotny said she thought Kemper had "legitimate concerns." Development Director Mary Bak said the Village Board was dealing with those concerns and might build a landscaped berm to shield Kemper from the site of the MURC. Chairman Silver said the GRC could recommend that the village do more.
TRAFFIC TROUBLES AHEAD?
A presentation by the developer's traffic consultant also raised doubts. Plans call for a series of one-way, two-lane streets with angled and parallel parking, punctuated by a series of five-way intersections. Paul Kitsakos admitted cars would move slowly through the shopping center. "There was no intent to move cars fast. In fact, many design decisions were made for the benefit of the pedestrian rather than the motorist. It's okay that they may have to wait for a light a couple of times."
He said traffic around the MURC would flow much as it does on Central Avenue in downtown Highland Park, "at about ten miles an hour if that."
Kitsakos said the development would provide about 2,350 parking spaces 75 percent of them in garages, and during busy weekend or evening hours, employees could be made to park in lots at the nearby corporate park.
Chairman Silver wasn't thrilled with the prospect of crawling traffic, pointing out that Patriot Boulevard the main street leading to the MURC will also be used for routine travel by village residents as an alternate to Pfingsten and Waukegan Roads, and he thought five-way intersections might be confusing and dangerous.
Commissioner Novotny said there was too little parking, and she feared that snow would take up some spaces during the winter months. "If I want to find a parking space," she said, "I will go to Old Orchard or Northbrook Court."
The discussion of traffic and parking will continue at next Wednesday's public hearing, with special attention to the MURC's impact on greater Glenview.
ON YOUR MARK
Area runners and walkers will have two chances to do good on June 2 as the North Suburban Y and School District 30 sponsor separate 5-k races. The Lew Blond Memorial Run will begin at 7:30 a.m. at Maple School, 2370 Shermer Road in Northbrook. It honors a former applied tech teacher who died from Lou Gehrig's disease and will benefit the Les Turner ALS Foundation. Proceeds will also help to develop a new applied tech classroom at Maple School and to fund scholarships at GBS and GBN. Register the day of the race starting at 6:30 a.m. to run or walk. The cost is $20 for adults, $10 for kids 14 and under or $25 for a family. For those who find 5K (3.1 miles) a daunting distance, the event also includes a one-mile fun run. For more information, call 400-8900.
At 9:00 a.m., the Y's race begins part of a national effort billed as the world's largest race with many of the nation's YMCA's taking part. Proceeds benefit the Y's scholarship fund. Register the day of the race from 7:30 - 8:50 a.m.. The charge is $18 for adults and $5 for kids. For details, call 272-7250.
Organizers say Northbrook police will be blocking roads to assure the safety of runners, and the first race should be finished before the second one begins.
SCHOOL NAMES AND NUMBERS
The new middle school to be built at The Glen will bear the name of Glenview's long-time superintendent Dr. William Attea. A village-wide competition brought 169 suggestions including 79 recommending Attea, who served as the top administrator of District 34 for 24 years.
Other finalists chosen by a name selection committee would have honored founders of the original airfield at the site (Curtiss-Wright Middle School), an early resident of the village who proposed it be called Glenview (Hugh Burnham Middle School) or the land itself (Prairie Vista Middle School).
In other District 34 news, the school board has approved $600,000 worth of budget cuts and other changes designed to help close a $1.3 million gap between revenues and expenses. Reserves will be used to cover the remaining costs so that class sizes can be maintained and teachers retained. Here are some of the measures planned to save money:
Delay technology upgrades $100,000
Reduce supplies/materials for kids and staff by 10% $82,500
Reduce pay raises for support staff and administrators $65,500
Cut staff conference attendance by 70% $50,000
Delay hiring additional art, music and drama teachers $50,000
Ask parents to pay for Grove field trips $43,000
Cut the after school activity bus at Springman $40,000
Delay hiring in human resources and health $34,500
Cut outdoor education at Springman & intermediates $27,000
Cut consultant contracts by 35% $20,000
Cut special education services to parochial school kids $19,000
Cut after school activities at intermediates by 50% $15,000
Cut summer curriculum development projects by 30% $12,000
Cut paper quality and frequency of building newsletters $ 8,200
Test cognitive skills only in grades 3, 6 and 8 $ 2,900
Cut the mid-day bus for Wesley Child Care kids $ 1,790
Superintendent Dot Weber blames the failed tax hike referendum, limits imposed by the state's tax cap and increasing enrollment for the need to cut costs. In a letter to parents and staff, she warns, "The District is using its reserves, but these will only last so long. There are only so many cuts that can be made before teachers and other staff have to be let go. More serious discussions and decisions lie ahead."
Weber will establish a finance task force this fall to study future budget cuts.
A LIBRARY UPDATE
If Glenview is counting on the post office to move in order to expand the library downtown, we can forget about it. That's the word from a postal service spokesman. Tim Ratliffe says a spending freeze imposed by Washington remains in place, making any new construction impossible. The village had shown postal officials an industrial site on Johns Drive, but Ratliffe says substantial modifications would have to be made to that building before it could be used for mail sorting and distribution.
In other news, the Glenview Public Library will be closed on Sunday, May 27, and Monday, May 28, for the Memorial Day weekend.
SAVE THE DATES
On May 30, The Glen Redevelopment Commission holds another hearing in the Board Room of Village Hall on the mixed use retail center (MURC) at The Glen.
The Glenview Village Board will meet on June 5 at 7:30 p.m.
On June 4 at 7 p.m., the Park District will hold a hearing on Wagner Farm, giving the public a chance to review plans. The following night (June 5), the Park Board has scheduled a hearing on the future of Rugen Center and the park that surrounds it. Both meetings will be held at Park Center.
On June 21 at 7 p.m. the Park District meets at Park Center while The Comprehensive Plan Commission holds a hearing at Village Hall at 7:30 p.m.. Residents are asked to come and talk about their vision for Glenview what they want the Village to become.
A CLARIFICATION
Last week, we reported that North Shore Realty was Northbrook bound. The firm was ordered to leave downtown Glenview because its business was not permitted by D-1 zoning. North Shore's new home on Milwaukee Avenue carries a Northbrook address, but it is actually in Glenview.
READERS WRITE:
About a name for the new middle school at The Glen, Kathy Schulte writes: "Curtiss-Wright Middle School is a much better name than Attea. There are lots of people in Glenview that did not attend District 34 schools.
"This is very timely in relation to the creek in New Hampshire that was on the front page of yesterday's Wall Street Journal. A young girl has been trying to have the very short creek named after her family. The creek runs next to her house. Federal law states that people must be dead for five years before a physical feature can be named for them. Since she and her immediate family are still living, and her only "notable" ancestor lived in another state, the problem is being debated by the New Hampshire State Legislature.
"Isn't Bill Attea still alive? The reasons behind the etiquette probably involve common sense. No disrespect is intended toward Mr. Attea, who did a fine job, but what if he started writing books advocating home schooling (horrors!) or the advantages of a parochial school environment (oh, my God). Or worse? Of course, I don't think he would, but stranger things have happened."
About The Glen's $112,900 contract for a 5-year census, Glenview resident Peter Grant, President of Madison Plan Consultants in Chicago, has this to say: "It appears to me that we're spending too much on our census at The Glen, and I have some experience dealing with research people in this area. My company may hire a Ph.D. candidate in statistics at Northwestern University for a 3-month, part-time job this summer. The experience level of this person is terrific, and his cost will be $6,000 plus about $l,000 in expenses.
"I don't mean to criticize Glen Redevelopment Director Don Owen, whom I know to be a particularly stand-up person, but I would think talking to people at places like Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management or the University of Chicago's business school makes fiscal sense. Surveys are not a high art.
"Looking at the big picture, it seems to me that no effort is being spared to officialize and bureaucratize The Glen, and this has had a poisonous effect on the entire village. Many people believe the project is being milked and that careers are being built in finance and urban management at our expense. It's made residents cynical about the town in general school referenda, traffic studies, you name it. I think the problem begins and ends with the TIF, a financing tool that has allowed this project to be larger than life by giving it an open checkbook."
JR asks some questions about the Lake Avenue entrance to The Glen: "Who is paying for private landscapers to cut the grass and wack the weeds along the fence line on Lake Ave. between Greenwood and Shermer? This is a county road, usually cut by county crews only twice a year. Are we now using TIF money to do the job? Also, do you know whether the entrance to the new custom homes is temporary?"
The Watch replies: We tried to get answers to your questions by leaving voicemail for Amy Ahner at The Glen Redevelopment Office. Last week, we had called Amy's boss, Don Owen, to find out why it appeared that Skidmore, Owings and Merrill had double-billed the Village for supervising installation of park benches. Two weeks earlier, we phoned The Glen's consultant to see if they had been in touch with Boeing and offered a spot in our industrial park.
No one called us back, and this week we learned why. In a letter from Ms. Ahner, we were told that because Watch Editor Sandy Hausman is a party in the lawsuit seeking prairie protection at The Glen, "staff has been advised [that] all questions must be directed in writing to the office of the Village Attorney."
Landscaping on Lake Avenue, installation of benches in Gallery Park and Boeing have nothing to do with prairie protection, but that may not concern Village Attorney Jeff Randall. He gets paid well to write letters and take care of Glenview's legal business. Last year's total compensation for his law firm totaled more than $350,000.
Not wishing to line Mr. Randall's pockets further, and not wanting to waste the public's money (we'll leave that to the experts at The Glen), we would suggest that you direct your question directly to Don Owen or Amy Ahner. They can be reached at 998-9500. Let us know what you learn.
Maggie wonders about plans to make a shopping mall of Hangar One: "Am I seriously missing something? There has been endless worry and talk about Glenview's downtown becoming a ghost town, and now we are entertaining a shopping mall in the Glen to compete further with downtown Glenview?
Re: A reader's advice that we be patient with Loyola and its promise to preserve natural open space she writes: "I think Zcloser has been around long enough to realize, as The Watch has reminded us, that no promise is final until actualized, and watchdog organizations can help to enforce honesty and proposed execution on the part of business entities!"
Kim Brownell was "just thinking -- the Glenview Post Office has removed a lot of neighborhood mailboxes. When you try to park at the post office downtown, there is hardly ever a place nearby. Perhaps, they can have a drive-by mailbox where you can just pull up and drop off a letter. Most of the people are just dropping off letters, which takes up a lot of parking space. I would not like to see the post office move to the Glen since traffic there is bound to be a nightmare, and downtown Glenview is already becoming The Glen."
Drew wonders who to call with concerns about public signs and plantings: "At the intersection of Washington and MacArthur coming from the south - Golf Rd. the YIELD sign is hidden by tree leaves. Who can be contacted to trim the branches back?"
The Watch replies: Call the Village at 724-1700, hit zero and ask for Public Works. If this is not their area of concern, staffers should be able to give you a number for Maine Township which may, in fact, have responsibility for that intersection.
YOUR TURN: Share your views on local issues and news. E-mail to glenviewwatch@aol.com or snail mail to 3537 Maple Leaf Dr., Glenview, IL 60025. Your comments are an important part of the Watch, and we look forward to hearing from you. We are Sandy Hausman and Dean Schott, co-editors of Glenview Watch.